Category: Red Sox

David Price’s start tonight just got a whole lot more interesting

By on • ( Leave a comment )

MLB: Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees

USA Today – Red Sox pitcher David Price is not on good terms with the media in Boston.

Price plans to only speak to news reporters on days he pitches and no longer give personal interviews…

On Wednesday night, following Boston’s 8-0 loss to the Yankees, Price took [it] a step further, barking at the Boston Herald, “Write whatever the (expletive) you want. Just write it. Whatever the (expletive) you want.”

Then on his way out, he was reported to have yelled, “(Expletive) them! (Expletive) them all. All of (the media).”

An oldie but a goodie – blaming your problems in Boston on the media. I don’t think Price has a real argument here. I could name plenty of other athletes who had it/have it tougher in Boston than him. But do whatever works for you, man.

What this episode all but confirms is that David Price will be opting out of his contract after next season. There’s no way that this can go on for another five-and-a-half years. But as foolish as it is to blame your struggles on everyone else, blowing up on the media can definitely provide a spark. So go for it, David. If it gets you to pitch lights out for two months, I’m all for it. The Red Sox will win more games, and you’ll make more money in a year and a half. Everyone wins.

I won’t lie though. Part of me wants to see Price get drubbed tonight. It would suck to see the Sox lose more ground to the Yankees, but it might be worth it to get another all-time meltdown out of it.

Again, either the Red Sox win more games or we get another epic meltdown. Win-win!

If the Warriors Sweep the Cavs, Are They the Best Team Ever?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Real talk: A year after winning 73 games, would the Golden State Warriors be the best team ever if they sweep the Cavs and go 16-0 en route to an NBA championship?

Considering no other NBA team has ever done it, then you can definitely make the case. Sure you can bitch about the level of competition in the league and how we all picked these two teams to make the Finals back in October. But, theres always dominant teams in the NBA and there always will be.

The Cavs and LeBron “I’m not the GM” James had the same opportunities the Warriors had to beat up on a weaker league overall; Golden State just benefitted from drafting the majority of their super team. The Warriors put a team together primarily through the draft that just happened to become incredible and win 73 games. AND THEN THEY GOT BETTER.

I don’t like Durant joining the team that knocked him out of the playoffs anymore than you because its a soft move, but thats a conversation for another day.

The Warriors need 2 more wins to become the first team EVER to go undefeated in the NBA playoffs. All while toppling the best player in the world (Paul Pierce disagrees) in LeBron James as the cherry on top.

Considering Steph, Durant, and Dub Nation have dominated LeBron and the Cavs over the first 2 games, its not hard to imagine GSW completing the sweep. And to bring that back to a Celtics fan perspective for a quick minute, that makes me so fucking sad. The Celtics got absolutely waxed by Cleveland, the Cavs were just on another level, and now that same Cavs team is getting dismantled by the Warriors. Trader Danny would be wise to draft Markelle Fultz and keep it moving because unless Durant opts out and signs with the Celtics this summer, we ain’t winning shit with an asset depleting trade for Jimmy Butler or Paul George.

Anyways, enjoy this while its on because this is some rarefied shit we’re watching. Just elite basketball being played by the Warriors as the Cavs try and figure out a way to stop the pain train.

Twitter Makes Fake Holidays Real

By on • ( Leave a comment )

If you’ve been on Twitter today, you know that today is National Doughnut/Donut Day. [Cream-filled donuts will get their own special day on September 14th.] But did you know that today is also National Rotisserie Chicken Day, National Rocky Road Day, and National Leave the Office Early Day?

You can find all of the national days you want on the National Day Calendar.

I’m a consumer, so I have no problem with Dunkin’ Donuts inventing reasons to give out free stuff. I will also use any excuse I can get to leave the office early, even if I can’t imagine “It’s National Leave the Office Early Day!” working on any boss. But let’s talk about the real reason these national days exist: to give small-market radio DJs mindless banter.

In between weather reports, traffic reports and community announcements, what else would DJs in Chamberlain, South Dakota have to talk about if it weren’t National Beer Day (April 7th)? “Hey, it’s National Beer Day, so be sure to crack open a cold one tonight!! But don’t drink and drive! Always drink responsibly, even if it’s the best day of the year to put back a brew! Or two!!!! Don’t tell anyone I said to HAHA!!!”

How do these days even become a thing? Is there some national governing body? Does it have to start trending on Twitter to get noticed? Or can I just proclaim July 27th National Dugout Phone Appreciation Day?

There are way too many useless, foolish, half-baked days. But if DJs in Jackson, Wyoming need something to talk about on July 27th, why not make it #NationalDugoutPhoneAppreciationDay?

Red Sox Have Up and Down Memorial Day: Price Looks Good, Pedroia Gets Hurt

By on • ( 1 Comment )

Yesterday was a shitty loss for the Red Sox that can be pinned pretty much on anyone in the bullpen not named Craig Kimbrel. But the point of this post is to talk about the return of one David Price. In his first major league start of the season Price’s line looked like this: 5 IP, 2 Hits, 3 Runs, 2 Walks, and 4 K’s

After getting smacked around in Pawtucket and getting chirped by fans *in Pawtucket* I think we all weren’t expecting such a solid start. Now did Price look dominant? No. But for a guy who hasn’t pitched in a major league game in about 8 months, not too shabby.

Remember, Price missed all of spring training so this is basically still his version of that. And of course I have no idea what to expect out of his health, I still am pretty pessimistic about a guy in his 30s who opted to skip surgery and let it heal naturally because that rarely works in the long run.

But, for a guy with a shaky elbow, Price was juicing his fastball consistently at 94 mph and even hit 97 on the gun. Not bad at all. So while the Sox shit the bed in the last few frames…

And Price did serve up an absolute batting practice ball to x for a 3 run dinger. But with it being his first start of the year, all in all I’ll take it. Hey, at least he seems like he cares, which is more than some other guys.

Now onto the bad shit.

Dustin Pedroia got tabletopped by Jose Abreu who was sliding into first to try and beat Pedey to the bag. With the 6’3″ 255 pounder basically diving into Pedroia’s path, he banged into Abreu and flipped over landing awkwardly on his wrist.

Initially it looked like Abreu took the brunt of the hit, but Pedroia was slow to get up and left the game. Dustin’s headed back to Boston to get an MRI on his wrist, which concerns the shit out of me. As a 5’8″ second baseman, Pedroia is diving all over the place every single day, but now he lands on his wrist and can’t finish the game. I. am. concerned. These little bumps and bruises like the Machado knee injury are starting to stack up for him, so hopefully its nothing, but flying back to Boston mid-series to get an MRI is obviously a red flag.

But hey guys, don’t worry, with all the injuries piling up it might force the Red Sox hand and leave them no choice but to call up the $95 million disaster, the kung fu fucking panda.

Sandoval, who by the way is healthy now, is currently playing down in Pawtucket and went 1/4 with another error last night. So thats good. Him and Rusney Castillo are probably laughing their balls off at the money they’re making to play baseball in fucking Rhode Island.

Even Price was down in Pawtucket for like a week and a half before saying get me the fuck out of here.

At least Chris Sale takes the mound tonight.

Hanley Ramirez Was HUNTING Guerin Austin After Red Sox Win

By on • ( 1 Comment )

So Brian Johnson threw a complete game shutout in his Fenway debut, the first pitcher to do that since a guy named Pedro Martinez. Anyways, BJ got the customary Gatorade bath, and per usual Guerin Austin suffered the collateral damage. At this point I feel like that’s got to be in her contract that she accepts frequent Gatorade baths and has to pretend its funny that a Sox player ruined another one of her coats.

*Yes in my excitement I accidentally called Brian Johnson Brian Anderson. Hand up, that ones on me.

John Farrell Bolsters Manager of the Year Campaign in Wednesday’s Win

By on • ( Leave a comment )

farrell 3d

WEEI – With the Chris Sale surprisingly allowing the Rangers to grab the lead with a two-run fifth inning… [Texas starting pitcher Martin] Perez was finally driven from the game thanks to one-out singles from Andrew Benintendi and Sam Travis.

Texas manager Jeff Banister replaced Perez with righty Sam Dyson, paving the way to two straight pinch-hitting moves by Farrell. The first came in the form of Mitch Moreland, who replaced Sandy Leon, the switch-hitter who was hitting just .209 from the left side. That led to an RBI single. The next was Josh Rutledge for Marrero, both right-handed hitters. That led to another base-hit, tying the game at 3-3.

After the two pinch-hit singles, the Red Sox officially jumped to the top of the heap in the majors when it came to pinch-hitting efficiency, having gone 8-for-19 (.421).

Just when you least expect it, John Farrell’s three-dimensional chess moves start to pay dividends. I’m not Farrell’s biggest fan, so I will admit that I was shocked to see that the Red Sox lead the majors in pinch hitting.

After a couple of weeks of treading water – going 5-7 between May 9 and May 21 – the Red Sox have scored a total of 20 runs in back-to-back wins against the Rangers. They’ve also made up some ground on the Baltimore Orioles, who are currently the top wild card team. The Orioles go on the road tomorrow after a 2-4 homestand that included a sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins.

And for all the talk about the quiet Red Sox bats, the Red Sox have scored more runs than the Orioles this season and have also given up fewer runs than the Orioles. Almost a third of the way through the season, the Red Sox run differential is fourth best in the American League. It’s not a perfect indicator, but it does seem to indicate that they are on the right side of the playoff bubble, and that things are starting to trend in the right direction.

So John Farrell should relax. It looks like he’s going to be in a job at least through mid-June.

Even Former MLB Players Are Still Shitting on Joe West

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Joe West is the ultimate dickhead umpire in all of baseball. The definition of inserting yourself into the game. People legitimately call him Cowboy Joe West for christ’s sake. Welp, even former players are still shitting on Joe West for being a terrible umpire.

Umpires and refs are a job where if you know the guy’s name he’s probably not doing a great job. Joe West, Angel Hernandez, Tim Donaghy, Walt Anderson etc. Except for Ed Hochuli. Everyone knows Ed Hochuli because he’s a boss.